Droplets of Blood in the Snow
by Shasira
Summary: Being fed up with her current situation after Sirius death, Arianne makes a willful decision that brings her back to the founders time. Volde-thread is not at Nr. 1 on her to-do-list, alright, but the past holds it's own problems and complications. This time faced with curious new schoolmates, a founder that dislikes her more than anything and - a never fading penchant for trouble.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer  
I do not own the original story, it belongs to J.K. Rowling (if you did not know that O.O).  
First time uploading something on this site, have mercy on me :)  
**

* * *

No light was streaming through the slightly filthy windows of Arianne's bedroom in the Grimmauld place number 12. She still couldn't cope with the fact, that Sirius was dead, while trying to save her...  
Everyone, her friends and members of the Order were telling her, that is wasn't her fault of course but in her mind, it was all her fault. Sleep was a torture for her, as it meant she would have nightmares of the moment when Sirius died on that night in the ministry of magic, and she would always hear Bellatrix Lestrange's mad laughter through it all.  
She hated that woman, if it were not for her Sirius would be alive, he would be with her, in this lonely house she now called home. At the beginning of the summer holidays Arianne was still at the Dursley's, but Dumbledore had asked her to help him convince the former potions teacher Horace Slughorn to teach at Hogwarts again. It has been easy really. Arianne didn't even know how it happened, but Slughorn agreed to teach once again at Hogwarts with the condition of a salary raise. After they left Slughorn, Dumbledore had offered Arianne to bring her to the Weasleys, but she had declined politely and instead asked him if it was possible to stay at the Grimmauld place 12. It has been a mistake she now knew.

After his death Arianne had inherited the house and all of the Black's possession as she was his goddaughter but Arianne would have been happy not to inherit Kreacher with the house. The house elf didn't consider her as the new mistress but had to listen to her none the less. Setting him free was out of the question as he knew too much of the Orders secret.  
Arianne cursed silently; she had to get a grip on herself and fast. All summer long, her friends had tried to cheer her up by sending her letters and invitations to join them and their families on vacation but to no avail. Arianne had locked herself up in the dark bedroom that was once Sirius and only left her solace if it was really necessary. She would soon start her sixth year in Hogwarts and she would be damned if by then she hadn't pulled herself together. Sirius wouldn't want her to be sitting around crying like some _weak_ girl and pitying her life like some Mary Sue. She gave herself two hard slaps to her each cheek and stood up from the bed. "Kreacher!" Arianne shouted with annoyance in her voice. With a quiet _crack_ Kreacher appeared in front of her and bowed lowly. "The unwanted mistress has called this humbly and _unhappy_ Kreacher?" Arianne looked with disgust clear on her face at Kreacher, "as a matter of fact, I have. I want you to help me renovating this excuse of a home into a presentable house, starting with getting rid of all dangerous dark artefacts in this house. Oh, and don't you dare trying to sneak things away, before anything is thrown out you will be showing me the items first, is that clear?" Kreacher gave her an incredulous look and shook his head in an angry manner. "Mistress Arianne is going to change the interior of the noble Black's?! Oh what would the madam say if she knew about this, a half-blood daring to change the house of her ancestors oh poor madam..." Arianne snorted, "You know, I am sure that old bi- _hag_ will have a lot to say to me, considering her damned portrait is still in this house and I am sure you will tattle to her anyway."  
Kreacher and Arianne starred angrily at each other but at last, Kreacher gave her a slight bow and with an almost audible " _understood"_ he disappeared again, following her orders Arianne thought.

After two weeks of hard work, Arianne was standing amidst new furniture in the now redecorated living room, as was the rest of the house. Arianne had always been discontent with the overly emphasis of Slytherin-love for the decor of the house. Some pieces of the former furniture were beautiful and not to mention important family heirlooms, so she kept them but she happily changed the whole tapestry of the house to a more modern white and cream coloured paint. She kept the generally baroque theme of the interior of the house just because she didn't have any special preference of style and also because she had been annoyed with Kreachers sobbing of her changing the whole house. Changing the green colours of the house to neutral white and beige had been a war in itself.  
There was only three days left until Arianne would have to return to Hogwarts on the first of September and she had invited Ron and Hermione to stay with her until they had to leave for Hogwarts. At the moment she was silently watching her friends with a slight smile on her lips as both of them seem lost for words. "This is amazing Arry! What did you do to the house? I never thought this old wrack could ever be so..." Ron struggled for the right word, "friendly?" said Arianne with an arced brow. "Yeah, I guess that's the word", Ron laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "I tried to change the atmosphere to something light, the old depressing look reminded me too much of Sirius's death" said Arianne with a sad look on her face. "It's beautiful Arianne!" beamed Hermione.

The three of them spend the rest of their summer holidays doing their assignments from school (Hermione already finished them since long), playing games and talking about just anything that popped into their heads, as long as it wasn't about Sirius was left being said out aloud. The Order still had its meetings in Grimmauld place 12 with the consent of Arianne.  
On September the first, it was time again for the trio to get back to Hogwarts. Arianne was even more happy than usual to get back to the school, the house still held so many memories of Sirius and she wanted to get away from it as soon as possible.

The new school year held many changes, after the incident in the ministry of magic, the wizarding world now knew that Voldemort has indeed returned and more vicious than ever. The terror of the dark lord and his death eaters now have expanded to the muggle world and reports of tortured, missing and killed wizards, witches and muggles alike were starting to become more frequent on the news papers. Also due to this, Hogwarts security has also been increased, an attack on Hogwarts by death eaters seem very likely now.  
With Slughorn as the new potions teacher, Snape finally got his wish and became the new Defense against the Dark teacher to Arianne horror. But at least she and many other students are now able to continue potions even though they didn't get an _outstanding_ in potions during their O.W.L.s last year.  
Being in Hogwarts was indeed helping Arianne to not think about Sirius or possible revenge on Bellatrix (which she would have never admitted to her friends, they would just unnecessarily worry about her). Snape wasn't all that bad at teaching DADA but he was still being an insufferable bastard to all students beside the Slytherins but that was nothing new.

One month into the school year, on a rather cold October evening, Arianne found herself sitting on the Astronomy tower with Hedwig beside her. Due to some unknown reason, she wasn't feeling hungry and excused herself from her friends, saying she had a headache and that she would be going to the hospital wing in order to ask for some medicine and after that she would go to bed early. The headache wasn't even a lie. Her head had been hurting all day long and Arianne wondered if she was coming down with some sort of cold. Luckily the pain had nothing to do with her scar that, would have felt differently. It was a cold but clear night and Arianne could see the stars twinkling above her head. She absentmindedly petted Hedwig one last time before sending the owl back to the owl tower. Still not minding her surrounding, Arianne walked back down the stair, her thoughts on her future which didn't look all too rosy with Voldemort's return, the death eaters and with her luck, possibly even more trouble than she can think of.

After a while, Arianne was not sure how long it had took her to realise it, she was startled out of her thoughts by a noise. She looked up to see Ms. Norris not too far away from her, standing beside a portrait which didn't seem to be occupied at the moment. The cat hissed at her and gave her sort of a glare if cats could possibly glare, Arianne thought. She still had three hours left until curfew so it wasn't like she would get in trouble with Filch so she ignored the cat and took in her surroundings. Not far away ahead of her was the room of requirements. An idea flicked through her head and Arianne walked up to the room. She slowly paced three times past the door, each time thinking _I need a break from this mess called my life. Anything will do._ After the third time Arianne stood blankly in front of the door, still wondering if she really should be opening this door right now.

With a shrug of her shoulders and a deep breath she opened the door to find a small chamber behind it. Arianne quietly closed the door and slowly inspected the room. The walls of the room where adorned with strange runes there were no windows or furniture beside a strange glowing crystal orb in the middle of the chamber. With a curious look on her face Arianne walked up to the Orb and stared at it. _Is this supposed to actually distract me from my problems for a moment?_ , thought Arianne to herself. _I probably didn't give the room a clear explanation of my needs. Or rather, I don't really know what I want at the moment and this stupid headache doesn't seem to be going away soon!_ With a sigh Arianne starred more intently at the Orb. The glowing seems to come from the inside of the orb. Bluish light was swirling inside the orb sometimes flaring up to a bright white-blue, sometimes dimming to a dark midnight blue. There was a note attached to the stand which held the orb. _Think once about past incidents of your life, think twice about your current situation, but do not think about the future at all for the moment, as you wished upon a break from your current life. Getting away from the present? That shall be granted to you for it is an easy wish to grant. Thrice is the number of fate if you still wish for a change, state your Name, your need and last but not least, state any limitations you can think of that you deem necessary. THRICE, if you so wish for a change...  
_

Arianne pondered the words for a while. It seems the orb grants wishes, but there are no wishes without a price, are there? This is not some stupid story with a magic lamp that grants wishes, nor is it some happy fairy tale. It is plain and simple REALITY. But that doesn't mean that Arianne was not curious. This was Hogwarts and whatever may happen, it can't be all THAT bad, can it? The school itself has never hurt her in any way, and the room was a part of Hogwarts so yeah, you get the point. And this orb doesn't seem to have anything to do with Voldemort...

She wouldn't hear the end of it if Hermione were beside her but with her usual curiosity and what she liked to call her braveness, like a true Gryffindor mind you,(some may call it unwariness, arrogance of being the girl who lived, or just plain stupidity) Arianne said "I, Arianne Lilly Potter would like to get...More time for myself. I want to get away from my current situation for an undefined time" and after some seconds of thinking she added "and I shall not return until I have an answer to my predicament of a life". Arianne knitted her brows together in thought. That sounded just stupid but to her dismay she doesn't have a better idea how to phrase her inner wish. She just knew the stress was getting to her, the expectation of the wizarding world, of Dumbledore, and her friends, to beat the dark lord, was getting heavier by the day on her shoulders. It just wasn't fair. She had never wanted to be special, a calm and _normal_ life would have been more than satisfying for her but no, she was the-girl-who-lived and due to some stupid prophecy by an even more annoying professor namely Trelawny, she has to get rid of Voldie. Now somewhat pissed Arianne straightened her posture and said her sentence twice more with a loud and clear voice. Who cares if it sounded stupid? If it grants her wish she would not be the one to grumble.

The light in the orb slowly faded and moments later Arianne got the same feeling encircling her body like with a port key, the world started to spin, nausea hit her like a rock and combined with her headache she felt like she had to vomit and pass out at any time soon, instinctively she closed her eyes tightly shut and after what seemed like hours Arianne finally felt sturdy ground under her feet. Or rather a snow covered ground, judging by its icy coldness and a cold wind touching her skin. With a groan she crumbled to the floor. Where the hell was she? The last thing she registered before falling into unconsciousness was a voice " _Your wish is granted. You may not return until you have found what you seek. These were your words yes?"_ With a snicker the voice faded into the blackness of unconsciousness.

Something didn't feel right. And it's not the headache Arianne felt, or the fuzziness. It's rather that, what she should be feeling right now and the clear absence of it.  
 _I am sure there was some snow on the ground, not to mention that freaking wind..._ Slowly Arianne opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. She was in the hospital wing of Hogwarts, judging by her surroundings. Of that, she was hundreds percent sure of it. She was probably the only student that spent so many hours, if not days, in the hospital wing. It seemed to be night time. The room was dark and there were no other students in here. _What the hell happened? Did the orb transport me outside and then I was found by someone? But there had been snow lying on the floor after the orb transported me and it hadn't been that cold when I went outside of the castle the last time before going to the room of requirements.  
_ This is just stupid Arianne thought. And with this she sat herself up on the bed and listened intently to the nightly noises of the hospital wings which, like always was completely nonexistent at all. With that she carefully and as silently as she could, stood up from the bed and turned to the door. _  
_

_I should look around a little. It should give me some hints to as what really happened after I passed out._ Before leaving the hospital wing she had enough patience left in order to peek outside of one of the windows. Indeed, there was snow lying on the school grounds and new snow was falling silently from the night sky. _Shit, so SOMETHING did happen after I got transported._ With a new sense of restlessness Arianne walked out of the hospital wing and entered the corridor. Of course at this time there were no other students walking around in the halls. But she still had to look out for the prefects, restless teachers and Filch and Ms. Norris. That is, _if_ there was a Filch and Ms. Norris in whatever place she currently was walking around in.  
Arianne wondered if she should go to the headmaster's office or maybe go to the Gryffindor tower. She concluded it would be better to get back to the Gryffindor tower. Someone had brought her to the hospital wing but it's not like she had any injuries, even her clothes that she had been wearing before were still on her.

* * *

Arriving at the tower and standing before the painting of the fat lady in pink, Arianne confidently walked up to the lady and gave her a challenging look. " _Danger is fun_ " Arianne said. The lady gave her an inquisitorial gaze and shook her head. "First of all, that is not the password and second, students should not be walking around at this hour. Moreover I don't remember you. You're not a Gryffindor are you?" Arianne looked disbelievingly at the fat lady. "What do you mean I am not a Gryffindor? Come on, it's me, Arianne Potter! You know, the-girl-who-lived? The girl who survived Voldemort's killing curse?"  
"Young _lady!_ I will keep quiet about your appearance and not report this to the masters and mistresses. Whichever house you belong to, you should hurry back to your own dorm. Now, off you be!"  
Arianne was baffled. The fat Lady didn't know her? How can this be? Maybe she was playing a prank on her. After all, she _did_ wake her up from her slumber in order to get into the tower. No wait, it's not _get into_ but rather _tried to_. With an inner derisive laugh at herself she turned her steps in the direction of the headmaster's office.  
Getting there was one thing, as it actually took her almost a whole hour (after all, the office was 5 corridors away from the Gryffindor tower, which meant many stairs up and down between the corridors. Arianne somehow got the feeling the stairs were all working against her tonight. Changing their direction at their whims and once even refusing to move at all, until she actually whispered a small plea to the stair to move for her).

Getting the right password for the gargoyle in front of Dumbledore's office to move was a task on another scale. The stupid thing was not budging at all. To hell with it! She had tried at least thirty-five different candy names she could think of. With a disdainful groan she tried the last thing she could think of. "Uhm, how about Jelly beans?" Mind you, Jelly beans were just the same as Berty Bots beans, just without any weird flavour but maybe Dumbledore had tried some muggle candies? Who could say what that old buffo-, eh old _wise_ man liked to eat in his free time. For all she cared, that man could eat insects and she would not care anymore than this. Arianne was starting to get desperate and trying to figure out a new option.

She didn't want to go to a teacher, _yet_. But she had no choice. It's starting to get really cold, whatnot with her just wearing normal blue jeans, sneakers, and a shirt with a green cardigan.  
 _Well, better get this as fast behind me as possible. There is no way around some scolding from McGonnagal for leaving the hospital wing without asking and of course, asking some strange orb for a favour was definitely not something a good or rather a sane student would do. Without knowing the nature of the orb, that is._

Arianne turned around and walked back to the infirmary. Madame Pomfrey's office was right beside the infirmary so that she could go to her patients without delay if there was ever a need for it.  
While still grumbling about her bad luck, Arianne finally arrived the corridor which led to the infirmary. She had been in deep thought without minding her surroundings all that much, so she did not sense the presence of another person closing in on her until the person was right behind her. Before she could turn around a hand gently but _firmly_ never the less, placed itself on her shoulder and someone, a man by his voice, leaned down over her shoulder and whispered softly into her ear.  
"What a rude intruder you are little girl. Is this how you thank the people who saved you, by sneaking around secretly?"  
Arianne's breath hitched, she felt a chill running down her spine but to some unknown reason she couldn't turn around. The voice didn't belong to any teacher she knew of. It was low and smooth, pleasant to listen to, if this had been during a class and not in the middle of the night and in a Hogwarts that seemed familiar but at the same time not so quite.

"Oh? Are you by any chance deaf? Or maybe mute? If not, do answer me girl. I'm not known for my patience with rude guests."  
Arianne tried to get a hold of herself. The man's appearance had surprised her but the thing that had thrown her off more than anything was his hand that was still grabbing her shoulder in a firm grip, in order to prevent her escape. For a moment she had even considered to turn around and point her wand at him, but had thrown that thought almost immediately away. She had been wanting to explain this situation to a teacher, and with the appearance of this man, she saved herself from waking up Ms. Pomfrey.  
With a determined look on her face she slowly turned around to face the man and stopped in her tracks.  
The man was handsome alright, that much she would admit. He was a head taller than her, her own forehead barely reached his collarbone, with wavy black hair an aristocratic face and cold cobalt blue eyes. But that was not what had shocked her. This man looked alarmingly like a person she had only seen once in a painting in the common room of the Slytherins (She quickly pushed the memory which tried to surface in her mind away. It was not a happy memory to think about, whatnot with her and Ron drinking some polyjuice and pretending to be Crabbe and Goyle in order to uncover Malfoy as the Slytherin heir in second year). It was a much younger version of the painting standing before her; he seemed to be around twenty-one, but never the less, this man was "Salazar Slytherin". Arianne quietly whispered the name, unbeknownst to herself that she had spoken out her thought.

Salazar raised an elegant brow inquisitively at her. "So, you know my name. But that is rather unfair don't you think? I have yet to aquire your name Ms...?"  
"Arianne Potter. Arianne Lilly James Potter."  
Salazar looked even more surprised after hearing her name. "A Potter? Are you supposed to be coming to Hogwarts? We have not received any former notice of a member of the Potter family joining the school. That makes your claim rather questionable Miss Potter. But I'll rather hand you to Godric if you're truly a Potter. Considering your family's ties with the Gryffindors. Also, I do not want to deal with this. It was Godric's and Helga's idea to help you out."  
Arianne has no idea what he was talking about but gave him a quick nod anyway. She would rather talk to Gryffindor than Slytherin. After all, she _is_ a member of the Gryffindor house.  
Salazar gave her a last searching look before turning around and beckoning her to follow him with his hand. There were no words exchanged between the two after this, with Slythering walking fast in front of Arianne and her struggling to keep up with his long legs and fast pace. He stopped without any warning in front of a door. Arianne who didn't had the time to stop in her tracks crashed with a startled squeak into him and would have fallen down, if Slytherin hadn't pulled her back by her left arm. With a derisive snort he quickly detracted his hand and gave her an irritated look.

"This is the door to office. At this time he is probably already asleep. So just knock until he opens the door. I hope to hear good news tomorrow Miss _Potter._ " He stressed the word Potter, probably to show her that he did not believe her to have told the truth. And with those words he left her and quickly went his ways seemingly melting into the dark hallway. Merlin, Arianne now knew why all Slytherins were such pricks. Their founder had been one himself! He may not be so vocal about his dislike for her like Malfoy had been, but never the less, he definitely gave off the vibe of dislike in her opinion. All right, so maybe she seemed pretty suspicious for wandering around the castle in the middle of the night and also the fact, that she knew Salazar Slytherin's name(not considering the fact that she was actually a student of Hogwarts or that she indeed should NOT be wandering around the castle _if_ she were a _good_ student).

But after she had seen Slytherin's face she didn't want to say too much about herself to him or any other person she met that night. If there were any problems to arise later on, it should prove her more beneficial if any person she met knew as little as possible. Arianne was frenziedly thought about her current situation. So she just met Salazar Slytherin, a founder of Hogwarts and behind the door in front of her was Godric Gryffindors office, another founder of Hogwarts. The two of them had lived a thousand years before her own time but she had just seen one of the founders in flesh. Also the fat lady guarding Gryffindors dormitories had told her she didn't know Arianne, like she had never met her in the last six years Arianne had spent in Hogwarts. And her expression had been genuinely confused at Ariannes. She really didn't seem to know Arianne. Was it possible that she had travelled back in time? Or was this some sort of fictional world in her dreams in which the orb had recreated Hogwarts during the founders' time? A dream, in which she could stay as long as she wished. Maybe this was similar to the muggle story of Alice in wonderland?

No, Arianne didn't think this was a fictional world or a dream. She had far too much control over her body and mind for this, to be a dream. But she had never heard of time travels into the past which went over more than three hours. Or dare she say it, _one thousand years_ back into the past. And how was she supposed to get back anyway. For the life of her, she could not possibly think of a reason why she had wanted to go away from her old life in search of something. She had told the Orb that she wanted to get away for an unknown time in order to get a break. But with a curse on her lips, she now saw the error in her wish. She should have specified her wish a little more, like being ported to a place without facing _other_ problems. There was no Voldemort in this time, no students, or people at all who knew her as the-girl-who-lived, there were no people who whispered behind her back or looked at her with hope, with scorn or simple hate. It was strange but Arianne also slowly felt a feeling akin to...excitement? Sure, she was in a situation where nobody knew her and where she had no friends, no relatives whatsoever, but that also meant that there were no people with any expectations of her. Having come to a conclusion in her train of thought, she finally knocked at the door before her with a resolute expression on her face. This sounded like an adventure, in a _nice way_ , not deathly with people who tried to either hurt or kill her.  
Arianne smiled coldly to herself. She never considered herself to be a pessimist but that actually sounded rather morbid if she could think of her near death experiences like it was some sort of Saturday shopping. Something that you do on a regular basis, just because it was part of one's _life_. But for Arianne Lilly Potter it actually just was a part of her life. People she loved seemed to always be taken away from her, her parents and Sirius...All that just because they wanted to kill _her_.  
But now... maybe I should just try to see where this adventure is taking me, Arianne thought to herself. After all, she had wished for a break, if this was the answer the orb came up with... Arianne "Arry" Potter never ran away from a challenge. _Let's do this.  
_ With a loud creak the door in front of her was opened and a sleepy man with shoulder length brown-red hair poked his head out of the small gap the opened door has made.

"What is it? Are you a student? Could this matter not have waited until tomorrow?" Godric Gryffindor covered the yawn he was sporting with a hand and looked questioningly at Arianne.  
"Lord Gryffindor. My name is Arianne Lilly Potter. I...am the unconscious girl you have found today- or rather yesterday" Arianne said, with a look to the wristwatch on her left wrist.  
"Oh right, the girl Sal had found in the morning. So you are a Potter? Well, it is nice to see you up and well. Oh, and drop the Lord part. I am not really one for etiquettes if I can avoid it, just call me Godirc or Professor Gryffindor. On second thought, cancel that one, you are not a student here and you are a relative of Lord Nathanael Potter I take it? But really, could you not have waited until tomorrow to thank me? You know, Sal almost threw you out of school grounds if it weren't for me and Helga."  
Arianne gave him an apologetic look "I am truly sorry Lord Gryffindor, but it was actually Lord Slytherin that had brought me to your door so that I could talk to you."  
Gryffindor scrunched his eyebrows together in thought. "Sal did? This doesn't seem like him. Is it some sort of prank in order to annoy me?"  
"Well actually..." Arianne hesitated then with an almost an unintelligibly voice "He found me walking around the castle. He wasn't all that happy if you know what I mean...But yeah, he said he didn't want to deal with it so..." with a shrug of her shoulders Arianne stopped midsentence and looked up at Godric.  
"Now that clarifies some things. Come in Miss Potter." With that he opened the door widely for her and side stepped to let her past.  
After Arianne entered the room, which seemed to be a study with two closed doors on both the left and the right side of the room, Godric motioned for her to take a seat on one of the leather armchairs and closed the door behind him, before taking a seat on the himself opposite of her. "Emy" without any sound a house elf appeared beside Godric and bowed slightly with a smile on his face. "How can Emy be of service to master Godric?"  
"Strong tea for two persons and some cookies would be nice Emy".  
"Right away sir", with a bow the house elf disappeared and not long after that a tray with a pot of tea, two cups and a plate with cookies appeared on the side table beside the two armchairs.

"Well Miss Potter, I have a feeling this is going to take some time, yes? May I call you Arry? Miss Potter seems so stiff for this moment. It's not like you haven't seen me in my sleeping gown already. I am not one for formalities if you may have discovered." For more emphasis Godric tucked at his dressing gown which he had pulled over his pyjamas after closing the door behind the both of them. Arianne raised a brow at this. He seemed rather...carefree. In a disturbing way he slightly reminded her of Dumbledore a little bit. Godric chuckled good natured at her. "Whatever you are going to tell me, I ask you to not tell me any lies. If there are any things you possibly can't tell me, than I suggest you rather leave them completely out then telling me a lie instead." With a small nod Arianne sat up straighter in her seat and after taking a sip from her cup she started to tell Godric about how she had travelled from the future to the current time with the help of an orb from the room of requirements. She left any detail about the future itself out of course. It would do him no good if she would tell him about Voldemort or anything that had to do with him, his friends or Hogwarts. Not that she knew many things about the founders or Hogwart's history mind you, but you get the picture. Hermione had told her in their third school year after Ron and Arianne had found out about the Time-Turner, that by all means, they should not recklessly change the past, for it can have a drastic influence on the future. Especially with time travelling, that goes back one thousand years into the past Arianne thought.  
But Arianne thought it wise to stick to the truth as much as she could. It would make her life unnecessary difficult if she were to lie about her identity. So she told him about her, being an orphan and a sixth year student at Hogwarts (without mentioning the way her parents had died of course) , her wish of getting away from her everyday life for some time (The reason she gave Godric for fleeing was the death of her godfather and the depression it had put her in. It wasn't a lie, just not the whole truth) and the condition she required to get back to her time.

It took Arianne almost 3 hours to explain everything to Godric and by the end of it, the clock had almost reached 4 a.m.  
Godric seemed to be deep in thought. During her speech not once had he interjected her, just quietly drinking his tea and from time to time munching on a cookie. Finally he broke his silence.  
"Alright Arry, that was quite a long story. I am quite sure that you have been honest with me, even though I am sure you have left out some details, but it is probably better for the both of us. To my understanding, the orb will not bring you back to your time until you made...peace with your troubles. Correct?"  
Arianne shifted uncomfortably in her seat and gave him a nod.  
"Do not worry. I will not throw you out of school grounds like Sal suggested" at that, Arianne winced a little bit, causing Godric to chuckle at her.  
"Sal is, to say the least, a cautious person. You should not judge him too harsh just because your first encounter did not go smoothly. After all, he is one of my best friends. His views on muggleborn wizards and witches aside and yes also his pride of being a Slytherin, he does have his good points, you know? Just give him some time. I will talk to him. And you should too. Just show him you are not suspicious and he will eventually concede."

Arianne gave him a blank stare. Godric did not know that in some years that he and Slytherin and the rest of the founders' will have a fallout, resulting in Salazar leaving the group of four friends. Slytherin's ethics of refusing muggleborn students at Hogwarts was still strongly if not vehemently presented by students of the Slytherin house in Hogwarts. And the few that were not of pure blooded families but still ended up in Slytherin were still considered mean and cunning, some even evil by the other houses in Hogwarts. But of course Arianne was not going to tell Godric these facts which she had read about in the history books of Hogwarts. It was not her place to sow doubt into the friendship between the two men.  
"I am sorry Sir Godric. I am not used to Slytherins, may it be the students from this house or their head of house, and surely not the founder of its house itself. In the future the other houses and Slytherins are not that close. And we don't have that many classes together. But I will try my best to talk to him, at least until I dispose of his suspicions of me. But on another note, how old are you and the other founders right now?"  
Godric grinned at her. "Why, do I look that old to you? Rowena and I are the oldest. We are both twenty-seven. Helga is twenty-four and Salazar being the youngest is twenty-one. We just opened the school to the students officially two years ago. Before Sal joined us, Wena, Helga and I were already planning to found a school."  
Arianne was to say the least, surprised. They had quite the age difference between themselves. Moreover Slytherin wasn't that much older than her.  
"Wow, so the school is practically still fresh in it's making? I did not expect that" Arianne said.  
With a heavy sigh Godric stood up and looked tiredly at her.  
"I suggest we will make our way to bed now. I am getting really tired, a sure sign of me getting old if you ask me. But I guess we just sort you into a house before you go to bed. It's probably better if you try to blend in with the other students. I have no idea how to help you with your problem but, I am sure time will heal the wounds. As for the sorting..."

And with this ominous statement, he walked up to the still closed left door in the room and went in. It didn't even take one minute for him to get out again, in his hand Arianne could make out a hat. No, rather than _any_ hat, it was rather the same sorting hat which had also sorted herself during her first year in Hogwarts. But the sorting hat of this age actually looked new (Wow, nice deduction Arianne, she told herself. Of course it looks new, the school had just opened it's doors for two years and not _one thousand years_ like it had been for her sorting six years ago).  
"Well let's get you sorted into a house before we go back to bed alright?" Godric said with a big grin on his face. "And don't you dare say that you already have been sorted into _my_ house. That does not count as it has been in the past, or rather a still in the future-past? Whatever, it's more fun like this anyway. Don't you think? Who else could say that they had been sorted twice into a house by the sorting hat?" With a smirk Godric placed the sorting hat on her head and waited for it's decision.  
Arianne cursed under her breath; she had hoped that she could just go straight to the Gryffindor house. But she reminded herself that the man before her was Godric Gryffindor himself, and if he wanted her to be sorted again then so be it.  
"What if I am sorted into a different house than before?" Arianne asked.

"All the more fun! Don't you think so? You wanted a break from your old life. Being sorted to another house should be quite an interesting experience if you ask me. And you can't complain about NOT doing something different then you have been doing in the future."  
His reasoning was quite convincing. At first, Arianne had feared being sorted into Slytherin (like the hat had wanted to do in the first place many years ago, or into the future, depends on how you look at it), but now, it did not really matter in which house she was being sorted into.

" _Ahhhh, you are an interesting girl Arianne Lilly Potter. So much potential! But into which house should I be putting you? You seem quite loyal to your friends, so Hufflepuff comes to mind But..it clashes with your other potentials which are just as strong. And you're not stupid, quite intelligent actually...But no, you don't seem to like studying that much. Ravenclaws' are quite competitive when it comes to learning and grades. You would not be happy there. The two most likely to fit you are Gryffindor and...Slytherin."_ Arianne lamented this thought, so she was _still_ something between a Slytherin and a Gryffindor? What a mess, no wonder she was the centre of attention in the future. Two houses that could not stand each others presence and she could just fit into both of them. But at her first year she had pleaded the sorting hat to not put her into Slytherin as she did not want to belong to the " _evil"_ wizards. But, this time she will just let the hat do it's own choice without her interference, Godric was right. It was more _fun_ this way, she thought with an inner snort at herself.  
" _Oh, so you have been sorted into Gryffindor once, by my future self no less? But if you let me decide this time child...I have to say, Slytherin will be of more use for you, considering your current situation *snicker*. All right, I've decided, you deprived my future self of this, so I will be saying this with much delight, "_ SLYTHERIN!"  
Godric did not seem disappointed. On the contrary he seemed a little bit surprised maybe, by the hat's choice but mostly smug, if his expression was anything to go by.  
"Slytherin huh? It should give you quite some chances to talk to Sal. We mostly teach the students of our own houses with some exceptions. But this is quite a surprise! Salazar and me may be friends, but we are quite different when it comes to our preferences and dislikes. I had thought you would end up in my house. Well, anyway, you may sleep in my guestroom for tonight. The infirmary and the dungeons are quite far away from my office."  
And with that he motioned to the right door of his study.  
Arianne slightly curtsied to Godric in a joking manner, and opened the door but turning around once again before entering the guestroom.  
"Thank you Godric" she said in a serious and quiet tone hoping that her thankfulness had reached him with the simple three words. But still feeling slightly irritated by his smug expression she gave him one of her own smirks and said "and a goodnight to you, _lord Gryffindor_. I hope you will at least get _some_ rest before classes start up again tomorrow."

Godric lost his smug grin for a second but it returned almost instantly.  
"I am not _that_ old Miss Potter, even if you may consider me an old man already. One night of slight sleep deprivement won't kill me."  
Arianne only rolled her eyes at that and went into the room. Really, the founder of Gryffindor would probably have been the kind of student that would have earned himself many detentions with McGonagall with his juvenile personality that surfaced on some occasions. Much like her godfather and if she were to go by his and Remus' stories, also her father during their school years in Hogwarts. It was just her fate again, to meet a person in the past that reminded her of Sirius.

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chapter I fin


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright, it took some time but here is the second chapter!**

 **And yeah, same as always, I am NOT the author of H.P.**

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It was not even seven a.m. when Arianne had woke up again and looked at her wristwatch.  
Still feeling tired she slowly got out of bed and hurried to the adjacent bathroom. It would be her first school day as a student in this time and she wanted to at least look presentable before meeting the other students. After brushing her teeth and a hot bath, which she had to warm up herself with a spell, Arianne went out back to Godric's office and found him sitting on the same spot as last night. One arm still resting over his eyes he didn't bother to look up at her but instead only said "good morning Arianne." He heaved a tired sight and finally looked at her. "We better go to the great hall to get some breakfast first, I don't want to face Sal with an empty stomach." Arianne looked at him and gave a small nod. "I guess I would need to sit at the Slytherin table?"  
"Well, as of now, you are an official Slytherin, so yes. It would be better for you to sit at their table, at least for the time being. We do not have a rule forcing the students to stay at their house tables all the time, they are only required to do this on special occasions like the opening ceremony and Samhain." Godric smiled at her encouragingly and stood up. "Now then, your school robe …" and with that he switched her clothes from Gryffindor colours to the green of Slytherin . Arianne looked at her tie and her scarf. Only that there was no tie anymore, just the striped scarf in green and white, but that was not the only change, the design of the uniform also had changed completely. She now wore a onepiece dress in green under her normal robes at that, she sighted quietly and looked at Godric with an annoyed expression. "Don't look at me like that Arianne." Godric grined at her; "you cannot walk around with such a short skirt, I take it in the future it is the standart uniform of Hogwarts but sadly not in my time" he winked at that, "and the green really suits you. I am pretty sure with your dark hair, your pale complexion and your emerald green eyes, you will make many heads turn around." Godric laughed a little. "But on a side note, would you like to be introduced with your real name, or do you want to change your name?" Arianne thought about this a while. Even if she kept her old name, it would not mean anything to the other students, as a matter of fact, her identity as Arianne Potter, the-girl-who-lived, will not be a problem for her, so she told Godric to introduce her with her real name. Godric beckoned for her to follow him. With a fast pace he led her to the great hall and without hesitation he opened the doors and side stepped for her to walk past him.

After Arianne stepped into the great hall, he walked to the teacher's table on the podium. Not knowing what to do, Arianne looked around her awkwardly and saw some students who were curiously looking at her. It was not eight a.m. yet so there were not many students. As inconspicuous as possible she walked to the Slytherin table which was the nearest one to the door and sat down on the first vacated seat she found. The students of the Slytherin house that were present, now all looked in her direction with a curious gaze. Arianne tried to ignore them but quickly though otherwise.  
With a friendly smile, (at least she hoped that it looked friendly), she turned to them and greeted them with a slight inclination of her head. At the same time, Godric stood up from his seat and started to talk to the students in a loud voice. "May I have your attention students? As some of you may have noticed, we have a new student. As her head of house is not here, I will introduce her to you. Miss Arianne Potter, sorted into the house of Slytherin will be joining us as a transfer student." With that, he sat down again and started to eat his breakfast. Arianne was uncomfortably aware of all the stares from the other tables. With a glance to the teacher's table, Arianne saw, that Godric was grinning at her _again_. It must be funny for him to see her in distress; she thought it for the best to ignore his antics, gave him her best glare and decided to just eat her breakfast quietly and ignore the stares as good as she can.

Arianne just finished her breakfast when she sensed an uncomfortable and with the lack of a better word, kind of cold presence behind her. When she turned around she saw none other than Salazar Slytherin himself standing before her. And he looked royally pissed. _Uhhh, this looks like trouble._ Arianne thought. _He's probably just angry because I got sorted into his house. We did not actually start our acquaintances on a good note._  
Slytherin looked at her in disdain. "Follow me Potter, we need to talk." Arianne looked at him blankly. She knew that Godric had said something about talking to Slytherin later on, but it seemed like she had to talk to this guys on her own.  
"Of course sir." The other students were turning their heads in Arianne direction once again, especially the Slytherins seemed quite interested by their little interaction. She quickly followed him, and how could it be otherwise, he forced a quick pace on her like last night, without so much as a gaze in her direction. _What is with this guy? It must be a treat of all people who are in the Slytherin house. They just hate me. At least he is not making stupid comments like Snape or Malfo... yet._ She was cursing all Slytherins in her mind without considering that now, she also was one of them. It took some time for her to notice that he was leading her to the dungeons. They stopped before the blank wall that led to the Slytherin common room, which she only knew, because Ron and her had infiltrated the Slytherin house in their second school year.  
"In honorem et gloriam" Slytherin said and turned to her. "Remember that password. If you forget it, you would probably have to wait for another student to come by and I assure you, you do not want that." Arianne looked at him with her left brow slightly raised. He walked into the common room and Arianne followed him. The room looked similar to the one she remembered from the future. It was big, the floor and the walls were all made out of dark stone and there were almost no windows, just two. Through them came a pale green light which casted a strange pattern to the wall behind her. There was a big fireplace in the wall to her right. Throughout the room were big soft looking velveteen couches and armchairs in dark green. Some tables with chairs were on the left side of the room. And between the windows were two large bookshelves filled with books.

Slytherin turned to her and pointed to the left side of the room. There was a big door beside the fireplace. "We are a house with lesser students then the other ones, moreover, we are also the only house which resides in the dungeons. It gives us the advantage of having more space. This door leads you to the girl's dormitories. You will find a door with your name plate on it. It leads you to your private room. I had originally decided that own rooms are given only to the older students who have shown exceptional grades and who have petitioned for a room in order to study in private. Of course there are students with parents who have enough galleons to rent a room for their children. After all, most of them are used to having their own room" he said with a blank face. "Godric has asked me to give you a private room. As a matter of fact he also told me, that he decided to be your guardian for the time being." Slytherin looked with an unreadable expression at her and after a while, turned to the blank space beside the door, on the right wall.  
 _ **Open**_ he hissed in parseltongue and Arianne slightly shivered at that. She had never heard another person beside Voldemort and her speaking in parseltongue. It felt…extremely intimidate. _No, that is not quite right_ she corrected herself, it was as if she should not have heard him. _What is with this stupid thought!_ She scolded herself. Parseltongue was a bloodline inheritance from the aristocratic line of Slytherin. There were no other known families who had the same ability as the knew, there were some other noble bloodlines in Europe who also had a special ability of their own, but not in Britain.  
Slytherin looked inquisitive at her and entered the room that had been behind the blank wall. She followed him and without a sound, the door closed behind her.  
It seemed to be an office and like with Godric's office, it had doors which led to other rooms. Salazar walked behind his desk and gracefully sat himself down on the big chair behind it. He motioned for her to take the seat in front of the desk, so she did. After a moment of silence he asked; "You have not heard of the abilitiy that runs in my family?" Arianne looked up at him in surprise but quickly dropped her gaze again.  
"I do know that parseltongue runs in the Slytherin family. I was just surprised to actually hear it" He did not say anything to this. But he somehow felt that the girl was not telling him the whole truth. She had not seemed surprised. He also did not sense the blatant discomfort from other people who had heard his family and him talking in parseltongue. But saving this thought for another time he continued to talk to Arianne. "Godric explained to me last night that you are from the future due to some…special wish. And it came to my understanding that you had been a student of Hogwarts, a Gryffindor no less. So do tell me, why did you end up in my house?" The last sentence was spat out like it was her fault for being sorted into Slytherin.

"Godric did not tell you? Well, he kind of…found it interesting to sort me anew and he seemed even more pleased at me getting sorted into your house. In the future the sorting hat would have put me in Slytherin anyway if I didn't ask him to not put me there." Slytherin looked at her with what seemed like concealed animosity.  
"You refused to go to Slytherin before, but _now_ you decide to let yourself be placed into _my_ house, with me, the founder no less, still being here? You must be out of your mind. I am still not convinced of your innocence and even if I do accept that you are from the future, it is hard to believe that you do not want to use this opportunity to mess around with the current timeline. After all, no sane person would wish upon a dubious crystal orb. So in trying to clear my suspicions you persuaded the sorting hat and joined my house. Either that or you have an inte…Never mind that. That option would seem too farfetched and I do not even want to think of the possibility" he stated blankly.

Arianne looked at him in disbelief. He wanted to say interest right? Like, an interest in him? Me? Interested in Salazar? "Do not flatter yourself _Lord_ Slytherin. If it were not for Godric, I would not have let the hat place me in your house. You are just an arrogant, spoiled aristocrat who happens to be my head of house and which whom I need to deal with. I did not mind being sorted into Slytherin this time because I have to prove to you that I am not a suspicious person. Rather than looking at it from the point of me trying to deceive you, why don't you look at it from my point of view? What better way for you to keep an eye on me, then having me in your own house? You will see that I am indeed _innocent_ of all said accusations from you and also from the _unsaid_ one." She stared at him pointedly at this point. Really now, she could handle any accusation from him, just not being interested in him. If she had a choice, she would have run miles away from him. "I heard from Godric that you guys prefer to teach the students of your house yourself. So, be my guest. You may watch as long as you want, but I am just a simple student who accidently wished upon an orb to get to another place. I just never thought I would end up here however."

Salazar had the same unreadable look on his face he already showed her in the common room. She knew he didn't like her, but that was a mutual feeling between them. What concerned her more, was the fact that she also knew that he wasn't satisfied with her explanation of why she was here. He wanted to know the whole truth probably, but that would include telling him that she was supposedly the savior of the wizarding world against a dark lord, and that the expectation on her, may it be from the followers of Voldemort who want her to get killed or the majority of the population wanting her to kill Voldemort so that they can live in peace again. But both sides didn't care about what she would like to do. She didn't want to die, but she also didn't want to kill anybody. But it seemed like, Voldemort and his followers will not stop until Voldemort's hurt pride at failing to kill her so many times, is restored again. Most important thing would probably be, Voldemort being one of his family's descendants, not a kind of trouble that Arianne would like to get herself into if she had a saying in it.  
"First off, a normal student would have never made such a strange are no valid objections on that statement. They may have wished for fame, riches, or even a way out from their current problems like you. But I don't think they would have made it under such an imprecise condition. You need _an answer to your problems_? You could have just thought about them in your own time, do you not? Furthermore, do you not think that your family and your friends would be sad by knowing that you do not want to confide in them? Instead, you chose to run away from them out of selfishness. They are probably worried about you by now."  
Arianne knew he was trying to bait her into telling him the whole story by infusing her with guilt. She smiled remorsefully to herself. Well, he was right of course. A normal student would not have made such a stupid condition to the orb, but as he thought, he did not know the whole story behind it. Her family was dead and her friends were crushing her with their overly meddlesome personalities. Of course she knew they were nosy because they care about her but it just became too much.  
Arianne finally looked up into Salazar's eyes and what she told him shocked her immensely.

"I'll say this much Sir, you are not that off. I surely am not someone you would say to have a normal life, _since birth_. And with the years, after I entered Hogwarts, it became more complicated from year to year. The fact that I ended up in the past, doesn't change my desire for a little time to think and to get myself together." Arianne paused for a moment then continued;  
"I cannot tell you the my specific circumstances in the future out of fear, that I would be interfering too much with the timeline, after all, I do not know, what would happen if I were to tell you about the future. You may change actions you would have been doing if it weren't for my appearance or maybe you would just ignore about what I could tell you about the future. But it is too unpredictable. I only ask you to at least believe me, when I say, that I had a _good_ reason for wanting to get away, even just for a little bit."

Arianne was angry at herself that she had tried to reason with this man. She had wanted to give him an annoyed look and tell him that it wasn't his business for what reason she had wished to get away. _What was I thinking? Nothing probably._ She instead had told him that she was indeed not a normal student and that her life has been a complicated one, at least she hadn't told him about what kind of complications she had, she scoffed at herself.  
Slytherin looked thoughtfully at her, especially at the scar on her forehead and nodded once.  
"I see. As long as you do not bring any chaos to my students and this school, I will bear with your presence at my house. Also, as a student of the house of Slytherin you may not do any stupid deeds that will bring shame to Slytherin. If by chance you _still_ manage to do something shamefully, I will personally see to it, that you are accordingly punished."  
Arianne gave him a cautious glance, as in…detention and such?" He smirked at her and tilted his head slightly to the side, which gave him a mischievous look. "Well…sort of. I do not know how punishment is handled in the future, but at the moment, the head of house will decide how one of their students is punished. Too bad for you that you were not sorted into Hufflepuff, Helga is the most lenient one of us. But do not worry, as long as you do not give me a reason to be angry at you, I will just simply ignore your very being. Now then, here is your class schedule. Even thought the school just opened up two years ago, we already have a surprising number of students for each year except for the sixth and seventh year. Well, I guess most families are of the opinion, sending their children to school for just two years isn't that much different than home schooling them all the way to their seventeenth birthday. You will find just a handful of sixth and seventh year's students at Hogwarts right now. So my friends and I decided to teach those two years together until they graduate. As you can see, you will be taking classes of Defense against the dark Arts, Runes, and Arithmancy with me. The other subjects will be teached by the other heads of houses. "  
Arianne looked at him surprised, "are there other teachers beside the heads of houses?"  
"Of course there are. It's just that most of us preferred to mainly teach the older students. Helga does not mind teaching the younger years but the rest of us are not used to having young children as students who would rather pull a prank than learn something useful. So in order to get used to them, we do not have many classes with the first and second year students. But anyway, we are not expecting an increase of enrolling new students of drastic numbers in the following years. We still have to make a name for our school. So keeping this arrangement is currently the best way."  
Arianne looked at her class schedule. Other classes she had were, Herbology and Potions with Helga Hufflepuff, charms and astronomy with Rowena Ravenclaw and Transfiguration and War Arts with Godric.

"Who chose my subjects and what is War Arts? Is it a subject where we train magical duels?"  
Salazar gave her a fake sweet smile. "Godric chose your subjects and no. It's not only about magical duels. He is of the opinion, that wizards and witches should also learn the way of fighting like a… _muggle,_ in case we ever get into a situation where we could not reach our wands. It can be quite, tedious. Even for boys, more so for a girl, so not many students have or even want to choose this subject." And with a shrug he said "he even managed to force me to train with him. It is quite acceptable after you get used to it, at least you will be getting some exercise by doing this, I even heard a female student talking about weight loss after some weeks, but…" he looked at her scrutinizingly and Arianne felt like hitting him now wouldn't be that bad of an idea, even if it meant getting a detention later. But it was not worth it right now. She had decided to _try_ to get along with him. So, with a glare she folded her arms in front of her chest and asked "Would you stop that! I am not fat, if that was your concern!"  
He seemed a little annoyed at that, which gave Arianne a slight satisfaction. "I would not call you fat, in fact not even close to a _lady_ whatnot with how scrawny you are _._ Looking at you, people could easily confuse you with a boy _Miss_ Potter, if it were not for your long hair. I do not know about future preferences, but being that skinny is quite unsightly. I do not want for people to say, that students of my house need to starve" he said with a raised brow. Arianne could not move for a moment. Did he just call her flat?! Moreover, looking like a boy? She may not be the type to stand in front of the mirror for hours before going down to the great hall for breakfast like Lavender or Parvati, but calling her a boy… The nerve! It was imminent he was being rude on purpose. "Do pardon my imprudent words, I am still figuring out how to talk to you in a civil way so that we may get along, but let us postpone that matter to another time. Classes are starting soon, and coincidentally your first two classes are with me Miss Potter, Defense against the dark Arts and after that Arithmancy." Arianne groaned. Lady luck was never on her side when she really wished for it, to start out a day with this prick of a man, in the first lesson no less. _Well, at least it's not with Snape_ she thought and trailed behind her new head of house, kind-of-enemy and teacher.

But before they could reach the door that leads out into the corridor he turned around once more and looked at her seemingly bored. "Before I do forget this matter altogether… and if I may, an advice from me. Do not call Godric by his first name around other people, especially not around students. He may have given you his permission but you do not seem like the type who would like to have unwanted rumors about you two spreading around with him being your guardian and all… Calling him by his first name in public seems quite… intimate. Do refrain from it if you please. Rumors about you will bounce back to the house of Slytherin and as such, it will mean trouble for _you_ " he said with a foreboding glint in his eyes. And as fast as he had turned around to tell her this, he also went on his way again seemingly unconcerned with her unresponsive silence.  
Arianne was trying to process the partial warning - or threat, in her head. True, it was not normal at all to call a teacher by his first name, less a lord who also is coincidentally a founder of Hogwarts. God! That had been stupid of her, while she was talking to Slytherin she had always thought and talked of the head of Griffindor as Godric without realization. She kind of went along with it when Godric allowed her to call him by his first name. It was probably due to his easy going appearance that he displayed. But retrospectively and logically speaking, she cannot do that in public, and it seemed like she would have to ask him about the matter of him being her guardian, if it had any significant meaning to it. As it goes since she arrived, she had been more careless with her surroundings than in the future. With a look at Slytherin's back came the thought that she really does not want to end up alone again with that… man, getting along with him seemed to get farther away than it had before. _What have I gotten myself into this time?_

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 **Yay for the update!** **Sadly this chapter is shorter than the last one, but the next one will be longer! (that is if you are still interested in reading this story xD  
I know, it is all over the place and my friend told me not to be so narrow minded and actually get my head out of the gutter and to start structuring this story but remember, I am still a novice at writing, not an english native so yeah, my english is kind of bad T_T and most important, I am only writing this story for fun ^^  
**

 **(If you see some horrible mistakes or if you find the story becoming too chaotic/boring pls be a darling and drop a PM, if it can be undone, I'll do my best to redeem myself?**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Hi! for whomever is reading this story, I am back with a new chapter after a very long break, but nothing to serious ofc. This chapter can be considered uhm background info I guess, I really needed to set the "stage" for our heroine and also - new chracters! They're not fleshed out yet or anything, but I'll get there I promise. But sadly that also means less of Godric and Sal in this ch. o_o  
To tell you the truth? I have no idea how people talked during the medieval age less so how the wizarding world worked during that time. BUT, this is a fanfic, so I'll shove my gap of history knowledge (or the lack of it) down to writer's creativity just imagine that they're in the past, talking all stiffly and whatnot okay?! \^_^/ **

**as always, original work not by ME - but her J.K Rowling yay -.-''**

 **also still not beta'ed so throw away your grief over funny spelling and grammar (you may have luck and it's readable anyway pfft)  
any similarities to the CANON or any other fanfic is NOt intended but if it bothers you, you may rage about it in the reviews section or even send me a PM  
Pfft ahaha hope the chapter's not too painful to read, it's so much... (needed) background story You may feel annoyed by it. But I hope you'd still have fun while reading - sincerely yours Shazzy**

 **Song I listened to at some point while writing this fanfic: Reluctant Heroes (wow was really weird, doesn't fit the atmosphere of the ch. so don't try it rofl!)**

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Classes with students of all the other houses were amazingly...normal. Not much difference to my time then, Arianne thought. Students will be students, no matter where or when. They were serious when the teacher was present, but otherwise, joked and laughed with each other like her former classmates used to do.  
Arianne didn't know if she should be talking to any of the students or not. Of course, as a new student she was still an " _interesting_ " subject for gossip and therefore she was consciously aware of the glances that were send her way; nobody knew anything about her background, family or friends. Of course, they can't possibly know of that, after all she was from another timeline. It seemed wiser to stay low and sit in the background, while she accustomed herself with her new classmates. The house feud between Gryffindor and Slytherin of this time, didn't seem to be established as of yet, instead there were personal family feuds between the different wizarding families of this time through all the houses.

The whole morning went by in a flash. Luckily for Arianne, there was no real time for any questioning by her classmates, also Lord as Slytherin seemed to handle his lessons with a fast pace and a strict hand. Defence against the Dark Arts has been unexpectedly similar to her times at Hogwarts. Apparently they were currently doing reviews of past spells and theory on the spell work of Dark curses.

For Arianne it was like being thrown into a tub of cold water, when she was confronted with the nonchalance of her classmates concerning dark magic. People of this time seem to have a total different outlook on "dark magic". Well apparently even the Unforgivables of her time were legal during the medieval age. They were considered dark, yes, but by no means did any of the students seem to care about them that much. Arianne didn't know what to make of this, but on the other hand, it was not her place to judge them, this was a different time, and probably also a much more dangerous one than the wizarding world that she knew of. Well apart from Voldemort that is...  
The medieval age _is_ supposed to be dark and bloody after all, both the muggle history and the wizarding one.

As for her first Arithmancy class; Arianne wasn't sure if she liked it or not. It was not as exciting as Hermione made it out to be but also not as bad as it could have been. Although she was thankful that she did ask Hermione to teach her the basics of Arithmancy, if she hadn't done that, this class would definitely seem like a new language to her. It was basically math. Unbelievably hard mathematical charts and statics which are calculated and constructed in order to assign and relate them to specific persons , names, things in general, and give them different emphasis equivalent to their assigned amount on the chart. Yeah right... So let's just call it math for the bored intellectual individual who has a wish to explain divination with logic. Arianne snorted quietly to herself not expecting to be heard by anyone.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself. But it is a _really_ bad idea to disrupt Lord Slytherin's class _."_ Arianne twisted her head to the direction from which she heard the voice. Beside her was a boy with light blond hair, almost as fair as Malfoy's, clear blue eyes, a straight nose and thin lips which were quirked into a slight smile, while he watched her. The emblem on his robes was of Ravenclaw's blue and copper. To his left sat a girl, which seemed to be his sister. They were probably twins judging by their appearances; the girl also looked at her, a curious expression on her face, the only difference between the two was that she wore the colours of Gryffindor.  
"Oh, uhm I am really sorry. I was just lost in some thoughts. I will keep quiet now." The boy's smile grew wider and he shook his head a little. "Do not worry Miss Potter. The class is almost finished."  
Arianne gave the boy a slight nod and hurriedly turned her head back to the front. She really hoped that Slytherin didn't see the short exchange of words. The bastard would probably give her detention just for that and... DAMN _he did see it_! The man in question was currently looking their way with a blank face but that could mean anything. After three more seconds he turned his head away and resumed the class without further ado. Phew - his lordship was being benevolent apparently, Arianne thought with a silent sight; better to thank that boy later on.

After the class was finished, Arianne slowly collected the parchments, her quill and Arithmancy book. She still had one class after lunch, but she was in no hurry to get to the great hall. Slytherin and most of the students already left the classroom. So, when Arianne finally left the classroom she was surprised to find the two students who had sat beside her during the lesson. They both smiled and bend their heads lightly in her direction. _Mhm what was it again, some pureblood culture she had learned with Hermione, bend your head in greeting when meeting new people or something..._ so Arianne also tipped her head down lightly to the two siblings.  
"Hey there, you two were _-" yeah right, this is probably not the right way how you talk to people here during this time_ Arianne thought dryly as she saw the raised brows of the boy and the surprise on the girl's face. "Well... I mean, a good day to you? Thank you very much for helping me out just now and, how do you already know my name? Ah wait, let me guess, news travel fast in this castle..."

Both of them gave her an amused smile; with a slight bow the boy introduced himself and his sister.  
"Maximilian Fortforêt and this is my sister Angelique Fortforêt. There is naught you should be thanking us for Miss Potter. It was my pleasure to help out a new student as it is also my duty to do so as an appointed prefect."  
Angelique looked curiously at Arianne and for the first time spoke to Arianne herself – "You have a strange accent and way of talking if I may say so. Where do you hail from? Though your family name suggests you are from an English line." Arianne truly didn't know what to say to that, she cannot come straight out with the truth at them but to lie and tell them that she was from another country? This is going to be hard. She wished she had more knowledge about the medieval age, well duh – it was her own fault, she could have paid more attention during her history classes muggle and magical classes, doesn't really matter at this point; and god dammit, she also REALLY wished she could talk to Lord Gryff- Godric she reminded herself; about her false background story before talking to other students. _Right, there is nothing to be lost at this moment, here goes my personal stage play act 1. scene 1_ Arianne thought.

"You have to excuse my strange way of talking, I haven't talked to strangers that much. I grew up quite isolated with my – former guardian. He was quite eccentric to say the least and he was also the one who taught me magic until now, so my knowledge of that may also vary from the school curriculum." Strange enough Arianne thought of Dumbledore when she talked about her imaginary former guardian. Well he was kind of her guardian right? Or rather he had been in the future. Definitely not uncle Vernon or aunt Petunia she thought bitterly. It was him who placed her with the Dursley's and she kind of thought of him as a respected uncle or grandfather that she admired; well before the whole secrecy fiasco of course. If he had been more open with her about the prophecy and not insisted on sheltering her from the truth, things could have played out differently she thought angry. Sirius would still be alive for sure and-

"-ter. " Arianne tried to shake off her angry thoughts and looked up again and was surprised to see the two siblings; She had spaced out for a long time it seems, the two were looking concernedly at her. "Miss Potter are you feeling unwell? You seem to be rather disturbed by something," Angelique said.  
"Eh... what? Yes, I... am fine. I was lost in thoughts quite a bit just now. Talking about my former guardian always makes my consciousness drift away a little" Arianne said and uncomfortably tried to defuse the penetrating gazes with a laugh.  
So apparently you had to address people with Miss and Mr. here huh... how stiff, but what else can you expect from the medieval period? Or rather, her professors had addressed the students the same way, the easy going immediate first name basis between students in her time (enemies excluded of course) was definitely a new development. Doesn't mean she had to like it though.  
Arianne gave the two siblings a bright smile and said, "Miss and Mr. Fortforêt, you can call me Arianne if you'd like. I am not really used to the Miss Potter yet. I mean, I was home schooled and my guardian always called me by my first name." _Good grace, I better start to learn French, if there are more people with such hard to pronounce French names appear; I'm doomed._

The siblings seem to be surprised at first but their expression slowly grew into a smile.  
Maximillian said, "What a surprise! I would not have thought, someone who was sorted into the house of Slytherin would be so... _casual;_ not to say that it is not a bad thing of course. But in exchange we insist you also call us by our first names – Arianne?"  
Angelique gave an enthusiastic nod to Arianne and practically beamed at her.  
"I now find myself disappointed that you have not been sorted into Gryffindor Arianne", said Angelique. "You see, your enrolment has been quite the uproar this morning. Nobody expected to see a new student after the school term started. Especially not one in sixth year, maybe a freshman...so of course everybody is quite curious about you now. Moreover, you seem to know Lord Gryffindor and Lord Slytherin – well the latter seems to be a slight strained acquaintance if his behaviour this morning was anything to go by...," Angelique carefully finished.

Arianne snorted quietly to herself, yeah right _strained_ is a good way to put that if anything. It was also no surprise those two were asking about her relation to the two founders. If it were her, she also would be curious.  
Arianne gave them a sheepish smile and shrugged with her shoulder.  
"To tell you the truth, we both didn't expect me to be in sorted into Slytherin but rather Gryffindor, so it came with a little surprise. Our first meeting was not one of the best if I say so myself and you could definitely say that Lord Slytherin was not _happy_ after Lord Gryffindor eh - handed me over into his care without warning."

The two of them were now openly grinning at her and with a nod into the direction of the great hall Maximillian said, "shall we? I think it is for the best if we head to the Great Hall now. I am sure we will find a better for talking than in the middle a corridor."

Lunch was surprisingly uneventful. Arianne got to know some other sixth year Slytherins who tentatively started a conversation with her during mealtime. There was the soft spoken and pretty Valentina Blackwood, the serious and quiet Octavian Brennan, the surprisingly (for a Slytherin, Arianne thought) friendly and easy-going Cináed Irvine and his cousin Alistáir Irvine who was quite the opposite of Cináed, he was quiet and guarded, always watching his surroundings, for what, Arianne did not know. Alistáir was apparently the son of the current Lord Irvine _pfft, guess I'll have to address him as Lord Irvine_ Arianne thought irritatingly.

Arianne did not know what to make of this situation. She was now sure the house rivalries were non-existent whatsoever. Her housemates have informed her of siblings who were either sorted into different houses, younger or not enrolled at Hogwarts at all. She could get used to the peace between houses but alas this was not her own time. She had listened in on the conversation between Cináed and Octavian who were talking about two students that were to duel the next week, their families were apparently in the middle of a feud.  
"A duel? Are students allowed to duel in the school?" Arianne asked with a disbelieving voice.  
Valentina looked questioningly at her."Well not on the school grounds, but outside of them yes. We can even ask the Teachers to be the judge but during the school term we may not fight mortal duels, it would make for bad reputation I guess," said Valentina lightly with her soft voice. This was quite disturbing considering the fact that they were talking about lethal duels which could lead to death.

And that was that. Arianne gave them the same explanation about her way of talking (she would probably have to do this many more times, so better get used to it now) and kept quiet after that, merely listening in on their conversations and trying to gather more information on the students, classes, teachers, and outside-of-the-school affairs (how she called it) - which seemed to play a big role for the Slytherins or students in general for that matter. Everything was so different from her times that she wondered how she will overcome the hurdle, she should probably get a crash course on medieval culture from Godric at some point tonight.

Before parting from the Fortforêt twins at the entrance of the Great hall she had agreed to meet them after their Herbology class in the afternoon, besides she had almost all classes with them the exception being ancient rune which she only had with Angelique and War Arts which neither of them chose. In fact, they seemed shocked that she had actually chosen that extra-curricular class (which she had not, it was Godric!); her housemates have reacted the same way when they have talked about their classes, especially Valentina seemed to be shocked about the choice. Beside Octavian and Alistáir nobody else had chosen War Arts and the former only because his father insisted on it. Alistáir had only looked at her with a raised brow, which miffed Arianne quite a bit.

For their Herbology class in the afternoon the students had to leave the castle into an inconspicuous building, the greenhouses of her times were not invented yet. Though the buildings for Mistress Hufflepuff's plants, all had many glass windows beside two which probably housed the plants that didn't need sunlight. Another thing she didn't expect, Helga Hufflepuff wasn't a Lady, she was not the heiress of a noble house and also hasn't married any Lord but some students called her fondly " _Mistress Hufflepuff_ " due to her excessive knowledge and mastery in potions and Herbology – and apparently immense kindness and popularity between the students.  
Arianne wasn't sure where to sit, when they entered the building. She didn't want to seem unfriendly to her new housemates and leave them to sit with the Fortforêt siblings, after they had walked to the Herbology building with her, not to mention, she should at least try to acquaintance herself better with her housemates, she would probably be spending most of her evenings in the common room with them. On the other hand, the Fortforêt twins were more like the people she would normally be spending time with, easy-going and friendly, with a happy atmosphere around them.

Angelique gave her a dismissive hand motion and a wink, her brother a shrug and a friendly smile. Indicating with their eyes and body language that she should stay with her housemates, which took the decision out of her hands. She gave a smile of her own in response and proceeded in following her housemates.

They were quite early; class will not start in another ten minutes so there weren't many students in the classroom yet. Valentina, Cináed and a Hufflepuff girl – a friend of Valentina, sat down together at a table, so Arianne took the seat between Octavian and Alistáir, they were sitting in the rear of the classroom, their table being one of the three in the last row. The other three sat at the table in front of them, the Fortforêt twins sat with another Gryffindor student at the table beside the one Arianne was sitting at, so she took her chance and glanced over to them. Angelique gave her a disbelieving look and Maximillian was looking away after a few seconds, his shoulders shaking quietly. His sister huffed quietly and gave him an indignant pat on the shoulder.

 _What was that about_ , Arianne wondered and gave them a questioning look. The Gryffindor girl beside Angelique also gave a strange look in her direction, it seemed, surprised? Shocked? Something in-between Arianne guessed.  
She gave her surroundings another look; there was nothing strange about it. She also sneakily looked at herself as good as she could, her robes were neatly closed, her hair tightly bound with a rubber band that she had found in her bag and she was sure there was nothing on her face. She looked over to her newfound maybe-friends again and Angelique pointed in her direction with a questionable gaze, well she wasn't looking at her, but rather beside her – at her companions?

She now looked at them herself. Quite the strange combination to have as seatmates, she had to admitt. To her left the ever stoic and quiet Octavian, he was looking to the front, sitting upright with a straight back even thought the teacher hasn't even entered yet, no need for any strict behaviour in her opinion. To her right sat the equally quiet Alistáir, his demeanour quite different to Octavian. He was slouching on his stool, his head supported by one hand, the attached arm and elbow resting on the working table, his boredom filled gaze flickering here and there over the assembled students. Even in his current posture he seemed to be ready to get up at any moment if the need were to arise. He seemed to notice her staring because first his gaze then after two seconds his whole head turned into her direction, a short assessing look to Octavian (which was returned equally by said person) and then back to her. Octavian's form beside her seemed to tense up completely and he quickly turned back to the front his gaze never straining or faltering away from whichever sight he was looking at.

Arianne's gaze concentrated on Alistáir who was still intently looking at her, _this was seriously starting to get creepy_ she thought. "Is something the matter Lord Irvine? You seem to be – uhm unwell," Arianne finished lamely. Alistáir was still slouched over the table but this did nothing to calm her nerves which have started to ring alarmingly at her. He raised one brow and shrugged nonchalantly at her.  
"Quite the opposite Miss Potter, my health could not be any better, thank you for your concern. May I inquire to what I owe your attention?"  
"No- ah... well I – I just thought that I never, - never heard you speak once today. So yeah... that's why I looked at you." Arianne was sure that her face had started to colour by now if the heat on her face was anything to go by. Yeah right, his voice... what kind of excuse was that? If someone didn't want to talk than it was not her business to butt in, wow good job Arianne! In her head she was banging her head against a wall and damning her bad luck. He hadn't bothered to acknowledge her presence or any for that matter, at all before so why bother now? But on that note, Irvine had a smooth tenor, very pleasantly to listen to, if he ever bothered to talk to you that is; and he talked so unbelievably _quietly_ almost a whisper, good thing that her hearing was nothing short of excellent, with all the conversations around them (some of them fairly loud) it was quite a feat to hear him clearly without any trouble.

He seemed to be amused by her answer, she wouldn't bet on it though; it was kind of hard to read his bored expression, but she swore she saw a slight _seemingly amused_ glint in his eyes, they were the colour of the purest Amethyst Arianne noted absent-mindedly, can't be natural right? Then again, you never know, even Dumbledore had sported that crazy twinkle in his eyes which seemed unnatural to her at first, but now she couldn't imagine a Dumbledore without the twinkle.  
"My voice... I hope you find it to your satisfaction? -Now that you have heard it," Alistáir said dryly, well whispered more likely. With that he turned his head back towards the front; once again resuming his bored disposition.

Arianne quietly let out a relieved sigh and turned a last furious glance at the twins. Angelique gave her an apologetic shrug and a feeble smile, whilst her dear brother was sprawled over their work table, silently laughing and gasping for breath. Right, whatever that was about, she'll get him back right after class.

The Herbology and Potions Mistress finally made her entrance through a side door, and Arianne quickly straightened on her seat and looked to the front. Helga Hufflepuff was a young witch with a slender physique, average height and looks. Lightly tanned skin, light-brown hair small nose, rosy cheeks – probably from the cold but her eyes were of an endearing spring green, a much lighter green than her own emerald green eyes. Under her open black coloured robe she wore a beige tunic, dark-brown breeches and knee-high boots of the same colour. _I always pictured her older and well, sturdier. Like Professor Sprout_ Arianne thought.

"A good day to you students, I hope you all enjoyed your lunch and are now invigorated enough for something new. We're going start with a new plant, the lovely luring Hydrangea." Here she started to levitate an enormous pot with an equally enormous blue hydrangea to each work table. They didn't look that much different from a normal hydrangea in Arianne's eyes, if you overlooked the child-like size of the flower and the eerily blue glow the flower petals emitted.  
"As you can see, the flower is harmless in its natural state, if left alone it will stay like this even through winter. Alas, we need to extract some essence from it so we can hardly leave this flower alone. There are two ways to handle this lovely flower, you either force-gather it from the flowers, which turns the petals and its essence to a red hue, it can be fairly annoying I assure you – or you sing to it and the petals in this case stay _blue_ and will willingly drop some for you to collect. Were you to chose the physical way, be careful to not let the plant touch your bare skin in any way, so wearing gloves and securing your robe and sleeves is a must. It will sadly not stay still for you and try to evade your hands, in some cases it even may try to swat at your faces, so look out for that too. The flower's essence in this case will have a different colour than the one which you gather by singing. It will have a slightly pinkish hue and it will have a numbing effect on us if coming into contact. This can put us into unconsciousness the more of its essence you get on yourself, so be careful. Once unconscious nobody can wake you up, not even with an enervate; the only way is to wait for the effect to pass, which can take up many hours, I even heard of a case in which it took two days," she said with an amused lilt to her voice. "Everybody of you should try to gather some, we can never have enough of hydrangea essence. They are used in quite a few potions and sadly not many witches or wizards bother to plant and gather its essence. It is a tedious task, I'll admit that much. But due to this, the prices for hydrangea essence is conceivably high so give it your best shot students, you may even take some for your own potions kit if you manage to gather plenty of it. Now then, any more questions? If not, you may start and be careful with the flowers, don't treat them too roughly the more you do that, the more aggressive they get in accordance to your treatment," said Professor Hufflepuff cheerily.

All the students turned to their respective flower, chatting quietly to each other about the task and taking precautions, securing their sleeves and their school robe. Cináed, Valentina and her friend seemed to have clarified their order already; all three of them were currently walking up to the teacher's desk in order to get some glass vials. Alistáir was already at the front desk, picking up some vials and quickly turned around to return to their work table. _When did he leave anyway?_ Arianne hadn't seen or heard him get up for that matter. Octavian was also on his way to get vials for himself and started to walk to the front. He turned his head once thought, with a questioning look on his face at her, probably asking if he should get her some vials too Arianne thought. "I will be right behind you, go on. I'll just secure my sleeves first," she said hastily not wanting to bother the other boy. With a nod he briskly resumed his way. The time it took for her to secure her sleeves and putting on her gloves (it took a while, Arianne had never been fast at this, normally Hermione would have helped her and likewise she would have helped her friend), her two seatmates have returned and started on their sleeves themselves. Surprisingly both of them had brought some spare vials which they put down in front of her.

She gave them her thanks with an astonished look on her face. _Malfoy, or well any Slytherin from her time, would have never done this out of his or her own volition_ she lamented. She offered to help them securing their sleeves with their strap of leather which they agreed upon after a contemplative pause and look at her (good thing that she still had some elastic hair ribbons in her bag, otherwise she would also have needed some help). Strangely enough, both of them never seem to look or even talk to each other if it wasn't necessary. She didn't hear one word exchanged between them, only that one assessing look between them right before the teacher entered.  
"So... who would like to go first?" she asked into the awkward silence between them. Octavian gave a noncommittal shrug and Alistáir was slouching over the table boredly again, looking demonstratively, his message quite clear.

With a tired sigh she turned to the flower in front of her and looked at it suspiciously. She could sing, but she didn't know any old songs that would have been known during this time. That shouldn't pose as a big problem though, it's not like she will be singing a heavy metal song. Her actual problem was, she has never sung in front of any strangers again, not since primary school. Her singing could be horrible, she didn't know, to herself she sounded okay, when she had been quietly singing while doing the chores that aunt Petunia assigned to her during her stay at Privet Drive number four. She looked around; the other students have already started on their task, with more or less success, the latter being seemed to be the overall case. One Hufflepuff boy in the second row was trying to dodge his flower; he didn't quite succeed as the flower feinted a left sided stab but actually went for an upper-cut. The boy drowsily took a few steps back, raising his gloved hands to his now probably numb jaw. Cináed was currently singing some sort of Irish lullaby to the flower, with great success. He had a nice voice and obviously also wasn't tone deaf, his flower was slowly dropping some pearl-like blue marbles from their petals which he and his seatmates started to gather into their vials, all the while not breaking with his singing even though he seemed like he wanted to laugh, badly at that, as he also watched the Hufflepuff boy who had gotten the uppercut from his own flower.  
Angelique was also singing, or rather she _tried,_ sadly her singing wasn't as _angelic_ as her name, non the less, the flower stayed blue it even started to drop a marbles at a really slow pace, for the time being, only three marbles were in Angelique's vial. So of course her seatmates didn't even have to help her with the gathering of the marbles, they were just sitting beside her; her brother with a pained expression on his face, and the Gryffindor girl had turned her head away from her friend laughing outright at the bad singing.

Apparently even if the singing is bad, you'll get a marble. Arianne shrugged and turned back to her own plant glaring at it as best as she could. She may be the girl-who-lived, but she was certainly not known for her epic fights with plants, so she started to sing her favourite song from primary school – _Amazing Grace.  
_ Her singing can't be that bad she thought, the flower was dropping marbles alright, MANY of them actually, her two seatmates had been passively watching her Octavian with a blank look on his face and Alistáir with his seemingly normal bored gaze. After the first verse of the song though, they straightened up on their seats and seeing as the marbles started to drop in a fast pace and large quantities at that (it was a big hydrangea shrub) - _what a pain_ Arianne thought as she gathered the marbles into the vials, _her two companions have finally started to move their annoying asses and help her putting the marbles into their own vials; they were starting to overflow from the pot already, maybe she should stop for now_?

There were so many of them, she will probably be allowed to keep some for her own potions kit, not that she really cared. Potions has never been one of her favourite subjects due to Snape, but that could change here, with Hufflepuff as her teacher. Slughorn in her own time has also been quite an acceptable teacher, even with his fondness for famous and talented students. At least he knew how to teach and above all, he didn't have an unmatched hate against students; that was more than enough in Arianne's book of acceptable teachers.  
She was almost done with her song and yep, the hydrangea was not stopping to drop its essence, in fact, the marbles were now also scattered over their table, having fallen down from the overflowing flower pot. The shrub had even started to sway lightly to the tunes in the middle of the song, its glow like a neon-lamp. Arianne abruptly stopped in her singing this was enough.

By now all of her vials were full and Arianne finally had the time to look up to her surroundings. Octavian was busy with his second to last vial while Alistáir apparently already finished to fill all his vials, six in total; same amount of vials as Octavian and Arianne.  
He was smiling amusedly at her, the first smile actually that she had ever seen on him. His face was normally either totally blank, guarded or immensely bored.  
"Well now Miss Potter, you never told us what a _lovely voice_ you possessed. We seem to be out of vials, I'll fetch us some more." Alistáir slowly walked up to the front desk again, Octavian after a nod in her direction also headed the same direction.  
Some of the students have apparently stopped with their own task for a while and had listened to her song, because they were looking at her with a surprised, if not jealous expression, maybe even a few with adoration written over their faces Arianne thought with a shudder. It reminded her of Collin's face somehow...

Professor Hufflepuff was standing behind her she registered just now; looking cheerfully at the still many marbles on their table and clasped her hands enthusiastically together.  
"Well done Miss Potter! I may ask you to sing for some hydrangea essence again if the need arises, it would be an immense help. And what a lovely song; is it your own composition? I have never heard this song before," she said.  
Arianne looked uncomfortably at her and said, "No Professor Hufflepuff. I don't know who composed the song, but it is my favourite song since childhood which I have been singing sometimes when I did some chores around the house or when I am taking a walk alone."  
"I see. Well, go on then after you have gathered all the marbles and brought them up to my desk, you may keep four vials for yourself if you'd like. You surely earned it my dear."  
"Thank you Professor," Arianne mumbled in response, while she picked up the full vials and brought them up to the front desk. Alistáir and Octavian have started to fill in the rest of the marbles into their new vials – they should be enough to get the rest of the marbles. Arianne took some new vials for her seatmates and herself, they still needed to try to get some essence from the hydrangea, if not for the essence itself, at least for the experience of it.

She slowly returned to her seat, the boys were also almost with the new batch of filled vials. By the time she reached her seat they were finished and on their way to the front desk again, she patiently waited for their return, after all there was nothing else for her to do besides distributing the empty vials she had brought from the front desk.  
Valentina who sat in front of Octavian determinedly put her hands on her hips and looked at the hydrangea in front of her. It seems like she was going to force the essence out of the poor plant. With a quick grab into the shrub - she was probably holding onto the main branches in the middle of the shrub in order to keep it steady, it even kind of worked. The hydrangea tried to wiggle its way out of her hands and was shaking furiously – it's colour by now a deep pink, but to no avail, the essence marbles (this time in red), dropped down from the petals in a slow but steady pace.

Octavian and Alistáir were back on their seats, and Octavian pulled their own hydrangea pot to his side. Apparently he's going also going to try his luck. They worked quietly from then on, Octavian had no trouble with his plant; his tall figure definitely advantageous for him, the flower had no chance whatsoever against his unmoving frame and steady hands. Arianne and Alistáir were quietly picking up the marbles while Octavian carefully shook the hydrangea for its essence.  
But of course this is a Herbology class, there was normally at least one accident bound to happen. Valentina was bickering playfully with her friend and raised a fist in mock anger at her, that distraction was the one chance the plant had been waiting for. It detracted itself from her hold and bumped it's front into her ribcage, pushing her back a few steps – right into Octavian's hydrangea. He didn't lose his hold on it like Valentina but the plant got knocked over slightly, right into Arianne's face, she had been diligently picking up marbles right beside the pot and had looked up at Valentina's surprised squeal after her knockback. There was no way to avoid the glowing red petals.

She vaguely heard voices flittering across her, felt the spreading numbness across her face, until her consciousness drifted away from. The last thing she saw before her eyes closed was a shocked Octavian and the disbelieving face of Alistáir which were bend over her own, he was talking to her but at that point she couldn't hear anything anymore.

* * *

 **If you made it this far, then it means you reached the end of the chapter guys, yup yup! Kudos to all of you who managed that. Must have been boring pretty much? If so let me know xD**  
 **Thank you for reading!**  
PS: I hope I did change all the Aodhán's into Alistáir. Cause yeah, that was formerly his name until I changed it to the latter.


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